To disturb, or not to disturb ???

I'm not a full-time underwater photographer, but I was (until recently) a full-time land photographer for 7 years. I've owned camera housings since 1998.

It has been my practice that before and after each day's diving to rinse and strip the housing down and grease all the O rings. I find this a time consuming exercise, and one that has stopped me taking the camera diving on more than one occasion. Saying that - I've never had a flood.

I recently met someone (who dives more far often than I), leaves his housing and strobes fully set-up, and does not service any O ring unless it is disturbed -ever!

This is evolutionary thinking for me.

Does anyone else do this to their housing, and have they ever had a problem?

Cheers

If it aint broke, dont fix it.

I am of the mindset, the more you pull o-rings out, fiddle with them, and put them back, the more likely they are to pick up grit, a scratch, a nick or whatever. Just check for the dampness of the oring when opening and closing the back, and if you change ports. If you open/close the housing in a clean/dry place, why would it change between one days diving and the next? Maybe if you are doing fine silty diving it could work its way in, but standard reef diving... nah.

I just take it and rinse it, remove the strobes from the arms, and arms from the housing and rinse all the moving parts on the outside of the housing, and thats enough for me.

Olly

If it aint broke, dont fix it.

 

I just take it and rinse it, remove the strobes from the arms, and arms from the housing and rinse all the moving parts on the outside of the housing, and thats enough for me.

 

Olly

Thank you Olly,

To quantify your statement (which I value), and to see whether it is applicable to my situation, could you please give me an idea of what equipment you are using and how often?

I currently use a Nikon D200 with Sea&Sea DX200 housing and dual YS120 strobes.

Cheers

I just take it and rinse it, remove the strobes from the arms, and arms from the housing and rinse all the moving parts on the outside of the housing, and thats enough for me.

 

Olly

Olly, why do you remove the strobes from the arms and arms from the housing? Mine stay on until I disassemble the entire set-up before a trip and I haven't noticed any problems. As you say yourself, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Agreed I let sleeping O-rings lay were they are. That said I rinse well in luke warm water and ensure all controls and buttons

are worked until rinsed and salt free. Pump buttons slowly pointing up till no more bubbles come out then a few more times

more vigorously, leave soaking and then before removing housing give a few more pumps to give final flush. I also inspect the

main O-ring for any sand or salt build up and use a soft toothbrush to flick out any offending particles.

If it was say an Ikelite housing with the much simpler and easy to replace main O-ring I'd remove, clean and re-grease periodically.

On metal housings like Sea and Sea, Nexus, Nauticam, Aquatica etc were the main O-ring is tougher to re-seat correctly I'd leave

in place. There is a distinct possibility of re-inserting the O-ring with uneven tension and thus causing a flood.

Cheers,

Jim.

Sorry,

I just noticed that everyone had their equipment listed on the bottom of their post

what do you mean exaclty by stripping down the housing : do you remove and regrease controls as well, or the more normal ones like port, body, sync cable and battery covers...?

I remove and clean the housing o-ring every day or after 4-5 dives, the strobes' o-rings after a couple of battery changes and the port's o-ring if I have changed ports, as fluff may have got on it. OK for many years..

... until I did it at night after too many free Margharitas in Baja California!

I'm very careful after diving "muck" sites as grit can get into the grooves.

Tim

I have been in the Phils for a year now, diving every weekend and occasionally during the week if 'work' is slow. So the housing and port stay setup from the last dive, and i'll decide whether to switch the next day, weather and dive site dependent.

I only take it apart to rinse it because its too big to fit in the bucket i have!! I live in a small village which doesnt have full running water, so water is a premium. No other reason. If i had a bigger dunk tank id leave it all together!

Olly

I've just got back from 2 weeks diving in Scotland. My housing set-up (as did that of another 4 Seacams plus a variety of other housings) remained substantially intact throughout the trip with only main, port and flash battery compartment 'O' rings disturbed (and therefore cleaned and re-lubricated) throughout the trip - there were no problems. A rinse was available every evening and of course the housings have had a very thorough wash/soak now that I'm back. I've seen just about every 'system' used (never disturbed to always dis-assembled) and its really about what works best for you - the essentials are to ensure that that 'O' rings remain smooth in operation, no salt crystals build up and that nothing like sand remains stuck to the 'O' rings either. After a trip a thorough clean and check is needed though and of course, it is essential to follow manufacturer's servicing guidelines. Servicing is part and parcel of housing ownership although often a neglected part.

what do you mean exaclty by stripping down the housing : do you remove and regrease controls as well, or the more normal ones like port, body, sync cable and battery covers...?

Just the normal ones.

of course, it is essential to follow manufacturer's servicing guidelines. Servicing is part and parcel of housing ownership although often a neglected part.

On that note, can anyone tell me how much does a 'regular housing service' cost, if there is such a thing (specifically for Sea&Sea housings please)?

I sent an email to the nearest Australian supplier who has yet to get back to me.

I service my housings/strobes as follows:

1° Main housing o-ring: work on most housings on compression and need no grease but have to be clean and checked for salt build-up or other dirt

2° Port o-ring: most of them have to be twisted to lock, so it is necessary to lubricate them to avoid that they get stuck and/or twisted

3° knobs and dials o-ring: they work on moving stems so they need to be lubricated, i grease them from the outside applying tiny amounts of grease to the stem

I NOT recommend them to be serviced as they may get the shape of the stem and mounting them differently may lead to leaks

replace them only with new o-rings

Lubrificating o-rings: use only a small amount of grease and check that it is the manufacturer recommended grease type,

use just enough to make your fingertips slippery and pass the o-ring trough your fingertips that it get shiny but no excess grease on it

Never use any hard pick to pull o-rings out of the groove, pinch them gentle together with your fingers to form a loop and remove them

being very careful not to over stretch or damage them.

Clean the groove with a lint free towel before you slip/push the o-ring back in place and respect the shape of the o-ring he may acquired.

I wash my housings after the dive with lots of running water, move all knobs and dials several times and dry it after with a towel and dry carefully the port lens

to avoid water spots on the glass/acrylic material.

I let the housing to dry after i moved all knobs and dials to squeeze as much of the the water out and let it dry with the knobs downwards on a table outside in the shade.

Frequent unscrewing of the SS screws may help with galvanic corrosion, i use PTFE Tape (teflon pipe dope) for all screws to isolate the ss screws from the aluminium housing as this will

greatly reduce galvanic corrosion. Be warned that grease is not a good solution as grease build-up inside the treaded hole may "clog" it and as grease is "uncompressable" it can crack the housing

while applying too much force.

Chris

On that note, can anyone tell me how much does a 'regular housing service' cost, if there is such a thing (specifically for Sea&Sea housings please)?

 

I sent an email to the nearest Australian supplier who has yet to get back to me.

The cost of servicing varies from engineer and manufacturer. Service kits vary in their contents and the number of hours needed to service everything depend on the complexity of the housing. Perhaps a search through Wetpixel will provide the names of independent servicing companies - I could only help with those in the UK.

I leave my rig assembled for each trip and break it down at the end for transport. If you are boat diving everything stays pretty clean. I will add one tip that I haven't heard from others. After I rinse my housing in fresh water and dry the surface, I use a "rocket jet" air bulb to blow the water out of the control button holes. I also go around the main o-ring to remove as much water as possible. I do this every time before opening the housing. Not only does this prevent stray droplets from getting inside when I am replacing the battery or flash card, it helps reduce the residual water that drys in the control stems, reducing salt buildup. Despite the name, the rocket jet produces a very gentle puff of air which is completely safe. It is intended for dusting off coated optics (which it also does well).

I will also add that if you are mechanically minded a complete overhaul of the housing is completely doable as a DIY repair. It isn't rocket science. Last year I bought the service kit for my Aquatica housing and replaced all of o-rings including the ones for knobs, buttons, levers, and display windows. Warning: there are a LOT more o-rings than you realize; something like 40, although many of them such as around the windows, probably don't need to be replaced. In fact I was pleasantly surprised at how clean everything was despite having dived it pretty heavily for over 4 years. Very few of the o-rings showed any signs of wear and although there were signs of salt accumulation on the shafts, there was nothing excessive. The only caveat is to make sure that you dive the housing empty to pressure test it before trusting it with the camera.